Dynamic vs. Static Web Sites

Roughly speaking, there are two kinds of Web sites: those with static content
and those with dynamically generated content. These are also called static Web
sites and dynamic Web sites, or Web sites with static pages versus Web sites
with dynamic pages.

What is Web content? Content is everything that can appear on a Web page:
text, graphics, form fields, hyperlinks to other pages, navigation buttons,
menus, etc.

For a static-content Web site, all content appearing on Web pages is placed
manually by professional Web developers. This is also called "design-time
page construction," because the pages are fully built while the site is
being developed. Static-content Web site is developed and then maintained by experienced
professionals. Such Web site usually costs less when initially developed, but
then all future changes still have to be done by Web professionals. Therefore a
static Web site can be more expensive to maintain, especially when you want to
make frequent changes to your site.

On the other hand, pages in a dynamic-content Web site are constructed
"on the fly" when a page is requested from a Web browser. Dynamic-content Web site, while still developed by
professionals, can be maintained directly by you, our customer. Such Web site
initially costs more to develop, but then you don't have to pay Web
professionals every time you need to change something on your site. If you plan
to make frequent changes to your site, you most likely will be better off with a
dynamic Web site.